All posts tagged ‘3.14’

Image from Flickr photo stream NicoCanali used with permission under CC license

1) Pi is one of the coolest (and most used) mathematical constants there is. It first arrived in written word on 1900-1600BC Babylonian clay tablets, where pi was estimated to be 23/8≈3.1250.

Pi(π) is defined as the ratio of a circles circumference C to its diameter d. This means that no matter the size of the circle the ratio will never change. However, this definition is only valid in 2-dimensional Euclidean geometry. A second definition was created to describe pi in a more universal manner, pi is twice the smallest positive x for which cos(x)=0.

Pi is an irrational number, meaning it can never be written as the ratio of two integers. The most commonly known fractional equivalent of pi, 22/7, is only accurate to two decimal places of the actual pi value. Since pi is irrational, it has an infinite number of digits in its decimal state, and will never end in a repeating pattern of numbers.

Pi is a transcendental number. Pi as a number is not algebraic, it cannot be the root of a non-zero polynomial equation with rational coefficients.

The digits of pi actually pass statistical randomness tests, there is no pattern whatsoever.

2) Geeks and nerds the world around have iconized this mathematical symbol to the point of cultdom. Pi has been immortalized on t-shirts, jewelry, through parades, secret handshakes, inside jokes, Google doodles, college pep rally chants, and memorization competitions.

There are likely as many versions of geeky pi t-shirts as there are digits in pi itself (see caption above).

Did you know that San Francisco holds a Pi Day parade every March the 14th? This parade will have 500 digits… I mean people marching down the Embarcadero to the Pi Shrine. The Pi Shrine is a one foot diameter gold plate engraved with the first 108 digits of pi.

When you are out and about on Pi Day, give someone a “High Pi” instead of a high five. It’s similar to a high five, but uses only three fingers instead of five.

If you ever attended or dream of attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), you will likely learn cheers that are a bit different from those that other schools learn.

I’m a Beaver, you’re a Beaver, we are Beavers all.
And when we get together, we do the Beaver call.
E to the U du dx,
E to the X dx.
Cosine, secant, tangent, sine, 3.14159.
Integral radical mu dv
Slipstick, sliderule, MIT.
Go Tech!

3) You are encouraged to eat pi in all of its forms: fruit pie, meat pie, pizza pie, creme pie, egg pie…. you get the idea, Eat PIE! There is a pie for everyone!

Bonus) Poetry! There are poets who have coined an entirely new form of poetry in the for of pi-related haiku called pi-ku. However my favorite will always be the pi limericks, I’ll leave you with one, but add your own pi poetry to the comments!